Labour frontbencher Yvette Cooper MP says Medway needs to “get its future back” after visiting the Towns.

The shadow home secretary visited the Sunlight Centre in Gillingham this morning to see the community work helping with mental health and loneliness.

She was invited by Cllr Naushabah Khan, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for housing and property and parliamentary candidate for Gillingham and Rainham, to see the work of Men in Sheds and other community projects.

The MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford spoke with staff and saw work done at the centre, and heard how the opportunity to be creative and socialise was transformational.

She said schemes like those at the Sunlight Centre were extremely important for reaching out into communities, giving vulnerable people a sense of purpose, and preventing health issues further down the line.

She also said years of Conservative government had under-supported schemes which helped communities thrive and said, whenever the election comes, it was essential Labour candidate Naushabah Khan be elected.

The Labour MP said: “The really important thing is for Medway to get its future back and that's why we want brilliant Labour MPs for the future, like Naushabah.

“We've seen real long-term problems with the complete lack of growth under the Tories, and the economy is just so weak as a result of their failures.

“That has also meant we've seen these huge cutbacks in public services, it means we've seen the big hit to the cost of living as well.

“The Tories are all rowing amongst themselves, it's more chaos, it's more letting the country down, when people are facing a real squeeze, when public services feel broken.

“We need a government that's focused on the country, and not on more rows amongst themselves. “

The Labour veteran also commented on the controversy around the Tory party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, who allegedly made comments saying looking at Diane Abbott MP made you “want to hate all black women”.

She said: “She [Diane] should not have to deal with this, and I think to have a Conservative donor not just invoking racism, but also invoking violence, and that is totally unacceptable.

“It's disgraceful, and we've really not had a strong enough response from Rishi Sunak.

“He's got to show a bit of leadership on this.”